*sigh*

Judging by the fact that
1. No one has posted on their xangas (except Gina-- yay Gina yay)
2. No one commented on my last post
I conclude that
3. No one's going to read this or comment on it.

Which is ok, cuz I don't have time to post anyway.

Therefore:
*sigh*
+
*grrrrr*
=
the state of Katie at the moment.

quick post

It's gonna be quick again cuz Hannah wants to get on.

Today, I:

Cleaned downstairs
Cleaned my room
Dusted and webstered the basement (it really needs to be swept...next week!)
Ran around the neighborhood once, 13 mins and under 20 seconds (my system is very precise, is it not?)
Babysat Bethany, Logan and Mandy.

And now, I'm sitting and talking to Gina. Life is good. God is good. And it's as simple as that. I guess that's what you call irony. :-) With a life this complicated, you wouldn't expect anything to be simple.

short post

Tuesdays as usual
but different now

I ran
12 mins
just over a mile
School done
for today
Why do geometry proofs have to take so long??
If I went back to my school schedule from last year that would be great
All done except electives before lunch
Hannah has more reading
and less math
than me
so I guess that's something.

No new messages
in my inbox
I guess I'll add some
To yours.

Call me if you want to
Or I just might call you.
Miracles do happen.

press on
Be brave
be strong
in all His energy.

The Post

It's been a barbaric day.
This morning I cleaned my room for the first time after deep-cleaning it--I'm going to figure out a system for keeping it cleaner. Kind of like practice for having a whole house to take care of. If you can't tell by my brusque...ish tone, I'm sleepy! It's been a tiring day too.
Then, when everyone was ready, we got to go tour Timken! It was pretty cool--a neat experience. We got to see what Dad's talking about when he says "the computer room" "bottom pour" "the rolling mills." Oh! We saw his trailer and his desk. :-P The mill was LOUD and HOT but very interesting. :-D Then, we all sat around and vegged as a family for half an hour or so(at home.) And then Meg and I broke records and talked for 2 hours. And I'm still thinking of things I need to tell her!! How does that work?

Oh, and just for the record, we decided boys are snakes in the grass. I'll let her say the analogy thing (if she wants to) cuz I'll mess it up, but, boys are snakes in the grass. :-P

Abby made me get off the phone with Meg so we could skate/run again. This time, it was harder, I think cuz it was a little hotter, but we still went a little over half a mile after the usual around-the-neighborhood route. So I. Am. Tired. I think I'll go to bed after I finish this so I'll be all ready for the fall schedule to start tomorrow at church. Sunday School!

The post-Post

Hey, it was either that or the other one could be the prepost. Which makes even less sense, if that's possible.

Hungry I come
To you for I know
You satisfy
________________

Can I be close to you, yeah
Can I just touch you, Lord
___________________

Turn
Your eyes
Upon Jesus
Look full
In his wonderful face
And the things
Of earth
Will grow strange
ly dim
In the light
Of his glory
And grace.
____________________

I lay my life before you
And I'm not getting up
Father how I adore you
Those words are not enough
______________________

Never under
Estimate my Jesus
When the world around you crumbles
He will be strong he will be strong.
____________________________

You
Are the Lord
The Famous One
Famous One
Great
Is your name in all the earth.
______________________

Knowing you
Jesus
Knowing you
There is
no greater thing

You're my all
You're the best
You're my joy
My righteousness
And I love you
Lord

I love you, oh Lord, my strength.

LT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah, I know I just got done talking about this year, but
next year
LT
July 21-28
Myrtle Beach
I'll be there.

At least, I'm 99.999999999999999999999999999% [plus a lot more nines] sure I will be.

And if we go on a mission's trip, I'll totally do that too.
:-D

I haven't posted about running for awhile...

I just ran around the neighborhood with Abby. In 12 minutes. And I'm not dead. Do I feel lazy or what? Like, thinking about the fact that I'm CAPABLE of running faster than I do. Abby was even on skates and I managed to keep up with her! The thing about skates versus running is, she has more of an advantage going downhill and a bigger disadvantage going uphill.

School has begun! And my routine is looking good. Yesterday I was a little worried that I was going to get tired of structure before I really got used to it--just because it feels like there was no summer. At least as far as schoolyear habit familiarity goes. Usually I have a little trouble remembering what I write at the tops of papers, but none of that this year. Today, however, I've thought of several more interesting variations on my theme of routine--that's all it takes to keep me happy.

I'm reading a really good book in school: Shadow of the Almighty. It's about Jim Elliot and it's very good. I highly recommend it if you want some hardcore, encouraging, challenging reading material.

I think that's all for now--oh, my cactus grafting is not going well. The rubberband was too tight, so it bruised the scion, then I took it off and it's pretty much withering up because I bet the merismatic tissues got unaligned with all the rain we've been having. (Grafting is basically getting the merismatic tissue of two kinds of a plant to grow together. From my limited knowledge of merismatic tissue and stem cells, I think they're very similar--they can both grow into virtually any kind of cell.)

That's really all for now! Thanks for reading, keep fighting the only fight worth fighting! If that makes any sense.

thank you all for an awesome party...

Because it was, completely, awesome. You all make me laugh and I loved spending time with you. The girls stayed up till 2 in the morning, so I'm a little bit out of it. A lot out of it. But it was terrific to stay up and play woman in the middle and watch that crazy movie. :-P I love you guys! And girls! :-P

I cleaned up from the party until...probably 12 or 1, but I don't think I got dressed till about 1:30. And then I forget what we did--at any rate, I ended up getting to watch Pride and Prejudice, which is practically the best movie ever, and yes. Now I'm all sigh-y. :-P Mrs. Darcy... At any rate (again) it's dinner time! :-D

Cactus Carnage

Well, all of my cacti have some kind of bugs--mealy bugs or scale bugs. The brown one died some time ago--I think either after LT or after Meme and Pops'. Then the red one pretty much "got" the same thing and started rotting away too. The interesting thing about the red one is it's actually two cacti grafted to make one. That made me think: it's dying. It's practically dead. But only the center of the red part. All the little "sprout" bulbs around the edges aren't dying yet. So, I decided, it's dying anyway, why not graft? Again. I hope it works. Pictures:

Yeah, just to be nifty I grafted the green part onto the green part..we'll see if this works! I guess it'll be a miracle! haha! :-( and :-) I really should've taken a before picture of it. It was pretty disgusting. Let's just say, the paper towel is not wet because the table was, it was because the cactus was seeping. Eww.

hey, long time no post

I love Sundays. No work. Brilliant.

"Grandma camp" was terrific and fun and...fabulous and fun and...oh yes, the food was everything I imagined and more. Wow. Yes. And it was a looooong time ago. :-P :-)

Right now, I'm looking forward to school starting. I heard that: "WHAT???" I am! I'm looking forward to not having to leave the house in the morning for babysitting. I still enjoy babysitting, but I'm really not enjoying getting up and leaving and going. I'm looking forward to a more stable routine. HA. As if our routine could ever be called stable--new craziness happens every day. For instance, I emergency babysat Friday afternoon for a lady who got a bad hair coloring job and needed to get it fixed. The girls were both napping, though, so it was really no big deal. :-)

I'm also looking forward to knowing when dance is going to be. That'll determine a lot of our schedule.

Oh! And I've been going to driving school. This coming week and last week, Mon-Fri, 6-9. It's really not as boring as everyone says it is. Sure, some of the videos are pretty corny. For instance, we had to sit through The Cat in the Hat--Child Restraint Version. That was pretty bad. But I don't know how you could drink and drive after watching a video about a crash that happened because of it. That was sad. Also, I'm still trying to figure out how to balance "not speeding" with "not getting run over."

I drove to Kara and Bea's party yesterday!...never mind the fact that it took us 15 minutes longer than it usually takes Dad. And the fact that Dad pretty much had to chant, "Keep left. Keep right. Keep going. ... Keep right. ... You're slowing down again. ... Keep right." :-P

KnB's party was super fun. How could it not be? Don't forget, if you haven't told me (or hannah, or abby) if you can come to our party next week, please do! It's next Sunday! You can come anywhere from 2-3 (or later if need be), we'll have dinner around 5:30 or 6, and then we'll kick out the guys at some point later and have the girls sleep over until Monday. We're trying to think of fun game ideas that we haven't done a million times before (don't worry, that doesn't mean mafia and ultimate are out the window, we're just trying to think of something to spice it up) so if you have any ideas, do tell!

Like I said, it's fun to have a whole day to NOT work. For instance, right at this moment, I'm very pointedly NOT cleaning my room. It really really needs it--it's at the point where I've taken everything apart, but I still need to sort things out and put it back together. :-P

Alright, I'll let you go, thanks for reading, feel free to comment, and I'll talk to you later! Luv you guys! ;-)

Buhbye...!

I don't think it's totally sunk in that I'm leaving tomorrow and I won't get back for a week. No. Definitely not sunk in. Is life too busy when you don't have time to look forward to things?

Yes, it's a week of grandma camp--good food, fun activities, everyone's favorite grandma and grandpa, and yes, I might even get to sleep in a little bit and maybe check my e-mail once or twice! So I'm not even getting completely cut off from the rest of the world like LT.

I have no idea if I'm packed enough. Usually, the night before I leave I'm freaking out about getting things ready for the morning. But, this is the 5th time I've packed this year, and the paranoia has worn off. Yes, 5th. Florida, DC, Family reunion/TN&GA, LT, and "Grandma camp." Whew! And I'm not even a world traveler yet!

I think it's bedtime. Maybe. Oh, here are some SWEET lyrics that totally have to go on here.

Post LT:

I think we're going somewhere.
We're on to something good here.
Out of mind, out of state.
Trying to keep my head on straight.
I think we're going somewhere.
We're on to something good here.
There's only one thing left to do.
Drop all I have and go with You.
[Chorus:]
Somewhere back there I left my worries all behind.
My problems fell out of the back of my mind.
We're going and I'm never knowing (never knowing) where we're
going.
To go back to where I was would just be wrong.
I'm pressing on.
Pressing on, all my distress is going, going, gone. (pressing
on, pressing on)
And I won't sit back, and take this anymore.
'Cause I'm done with that, I've got one foot out the door.
And to go back where I was would just be wrong
I'm pressing on.
I think we're going somewhere.
We're on to something good here.
Out of mind, out of state.
Trying to keep my head on straight.
I think we're going somewhere.
We're on to something good here.
Adversity, we get around it.
Searched for joy, in You I found it.
You look down on me, but you don't look down on me at all.
You smile and laugh, and I feel the love you have for me.
I think we're going somewhere.
We're on to something good here, and we're gonna make it after
all.

Wow, they're like, already spaced and everything. Sweet. And, song #2, I know, I never read lyrics anyone posts either (and two songs???) but these are really good and they pretty much sum up LT and post-LT. At least read the stuff in bold and italics, ok? :-)

LT:
Feelings, inside my head
I don't know, but I'm thinking about you
Understand cuz it's so hard to tell you,
cause you already know
You already know
When it's twice as hard to realize
That I'm still trying twice as hard to satisfy
myself on my own
And I'm still waiting for things to change
Chorus:
I lay my life before you, and I'm not getting up
Father, how I adore you
Those words are not enough
Feelings, inside my head
I don't know, but I'm thinking about you
Understand cuz it's so hard to tell you, cuz you already know
Father, know I love you, and know I am wrong
Lord, please take my life
Make me your son
Make me your son
Chourus:
I lay my life before you, and I'm not getting up
Father, how I adore you
Those words are not enough
When it's twice as hard to realize
That I'm still trying twice as hard to satisfy myself on my own
And I'm still waiting for things to change
Chorus:
I lay my life before you, and I'm not getting up
Father, how I adore you
Those words are not enough

Ok, Katie has to go get ready for bed or she won't be able to run tomorrow, and she really, really, needs to.

{Isn't it cute how she refers to herself in third person?!}

I love you guys, I'll miss you, call me anyway and my mom can give you my grandparents' number cuz I don't know it off the top of my head.

Lotsa love! I'm praying for you, stay strong, remember: we're on the frontline!

The People make the Party

Cuz that was seriously fun! I should seriously take a shower and seriously run tomorrow and yeah, I'm not even thinking about how bad my next piano lesson is going to be, because it'll be the only bad one before school starts. *fingers crossed* but ya, I should be taking my shower, so I'll stop now, but I just wanted to say you all rock and I can't wait to see you again tomorrow. Wow.

*jesus*
*rocks on*

This is me, trying to stay surrendered...

No, this is me, pretending to get things done but not doing them because I really don't feel like doing them and they're the kinds of things that you shouldn't have to do if you don't feel like it...although that could be up for debate. I'm just dead tired and I get all *ugh* when I'm this tired. Nothing else makes me this...out of sorts. I should really just go to bed. At 8:15?

I guess if I'm really going to post I'd better not just ramble. I babysat the S's today. It was the most stressful and the most fun all in the same day...not at the same time, however. Playing Roller Coaster Tycoon with Mike and Sarah was the fun part. Trying to figure out what I'm doing and what's ok and what the kids are doing and what the kids should be doing was the stressful part. It doesn't help when they all have different versions of what's going on (and what's ok/allowed).

And now comes the tired part, being out of sorts and trying to get more of them or get into them or something like that. Didn't the phrase "out of sorts" come from all those little letters that they used for printing way back when, and they'd get out of their cases or whatever and end up being a big jumbled mess? Yeah, that fits, I'm out of sorts. :-P :-)

Everything's better in the morning...I get to get up 10 mins later. No, I'll round and say 15 mins later. Is this making any sense? Maybe I'd better stop now and do something on my to do list. I guess eventually my to-do list gets so long and hairy that I can't stand to look at it.

I'll be quiet now...press on. :-)

Hi everyone!

Oh yay! go here, it's our LT church service! Wow, I'm so proud of us guys! Wow!! Ok, I'm so hyped up right now!!! I love you guys!

Like, wow

God does not disappoint--Lt was AMAZING. :-) I could probably write a post that would take you an hour to read about every little detail, but I'll try to stick to the highlights.

Just to get me warmed up, I'll write about Anonymous. Almost every night, someone banged on our door. They didn't knock. BANG BANG BANG. We were like, what in the world? We discovered that somebody was leaving us gifts. There was always a note in the same capital handwriting, and it said something like, "Candles for you" or "Sorry, we thought they were journals. Enjoy!" The note was always signed -ANONYMOUS. We got planners which they thought were journals, two boxes of candles, brownie mix and an egg, cinnamon rolls in the tubes that you can get from Pillsbury (cinnabun GRANDS), and chocolates. DOVE chocolates--my favorites. We were completely stumped. We knew it had to be guys, because guys would be much more likely to buy planners without flipping through them and realizing they were journals, and it wasn't our guys. They're good liars when they have to be, but they're not THAT good! We also knew it couldn't be the Rock girls because Kara and Bea, who were staying with them, knew nothing about them and anyway we didn't think it was girls. Finally, at the end of the last night, there was an announcement: "Would the Grace Summit girls please go to the back: Anonymous has a gift for you." There were Jacob, Joey, and Alec with pink carnations for all of us!! That was so much fun, so sweet, and so inspiring. :-) I must admit, the Grace Point guys are good liars too. We were so confused. We didn't have a clue who it was. :-P

I had such a great time getting to know everyone better. It was truly a life changing week. I've said it a few times and I'm sure I'll say it a few times more, you wake up on your birthday and think, "I feel exactly the same as I did yesterday." You don't feel a year older. But I think we all feel a little older now--I can see the change in everyone. Wow.

I'm so excited to talk to the church next Sunday--to hear what everyone else has to say, too. And to do worship with everyone. I'm also really excited to see how God works through everybody and in everybody in the coming months. I think this LT is going to make a lasting difference. It's really exciting.

LT:
awesome worship
crazy boys
Kevin jumping on Caleb
crying our eyes out
using half a box of tissues
inspiring teachings
goofy announcements
BANANA MAN
we <3>
twins/triplets/quadruplets...octuplets!
Angie
Cayley
Hannah
Elysia
Rachel
Kara
Bea
Meg
Liz
Jen
Lori
Mr. Dad/H-Unit/Mr. H
Tony
Tom
Jeremiah
Caleb/C2
James
Kevin

I love you guys! You all rock and I can't wait to see you saturday!! (Or e-mail you in the coming days, or see you soon, or whatever.)

=0) :-P

Sin has lost its power
Death has lost its sting
From the grave you've risen
Victoriously!

Here I am waiting
Abide in me I pray
Here I am longing
For You.
Hide me in Your love
Bring me to my knees
May I know Jesus more and more.

Come live in me
All my life take over
Come breathe in me
And I will rise on eagle's wings.

And they're off!

I'm going to post really quickly in the lull before going to Wal-Mart-- You can't go on vacation without a last trip to the store! We're leaving in less than 6 hours to go to church to drive to Columbus to get on a bus for Myrtle Beach. Oh yessss. <):-D I'm so excited I"m not even letting myself think about it or I might explode. Here comes the best week of the summer. Yeah. I don't even have anything more to say. Or I might get so excited that I'll explode. :) I'm almost all packed--everything is in the general vicinity of the bags, if not in them.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ok, if you don't know what all the excitement is about, HSLT!!! High school Leadership Training. Our entire youth group and several others from our association of churches are going to Myrtle Beach to learn about leadership etc. I CAN'T EVEN WAIT. So I'll stop thinking about it and go to Wal-Mart.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'll miss you all, when I have time to think about you!! :'(
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Adios, amigos!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh, here's the LT website, if you want to check it out!
http://hslt.tv

i have way too much to do to be posting. so I won't.

life is just crazy.

Well, we just got back from our week long vacation, check out Doreeeee's blog for more details. All I have to say is: Clue is seriously more fun than I ever knew before! I'm addicted. Also, food rocks. But we knew that already. And, the mosquitoes are biting me again. Right now I have a total of 7 bites, 2 of which have a tendency to swell. Not bad bad, but I haven't gotten more than 1 at a time in the last 5 years.

I seem to forget vacation completely when I get home because the "rushing around life mentality" gets shoved back on immediately. Not that that's bad, I don't really mind, I'm just submerged in life again. I think it's going to take a lot of discipline to do everything I want to accomplish, but discipline brings peace. That's just a fact. I can prove it if you challenge it. :-D

4 days of babysitting this week, ok never mind I"m not going to think about how much is going on this week. One day at a time. :-)

It's so good to be home. Vacation was seriously fun and I wouldn't exchange it for anything (except LT) but it's still so good to be home. I can't imagine leaving for more than a week.

Oh and Ted if you read this, I am endeavoring to work in piano somewhere. It's getting worked in so far! :-D Also, my aunt, whom we visited, is a piano teacher, and she said we have a really good teacher. And HER teacher said we have a really good teacher. Well, we knew that! Our family is sweet because everoyne's so musical, there's always a recital somewhere in there. There was also a "jam session" when my uncle was playing the bass, Evan was playing the drums, Anthony on electric guitar, Dad and, um...the pope's grandma? on the piano, and Aunt Lou on the keyboard. Can you say wow?

Anyway, off to praise and worhip/ice cream social night. Does it get any better than this? I don't think so.

Spontaneity is a fun word.

I wouldn't be posting if I wasn't feeling spontaneous. Wait, say spontaneity. You don't say spon-ta-nay-it-ee, you say spont-nnn-a-it-ee. Wow. That's really really funny.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Anyway. This has been a pretty crazy week. I'm going to do a little research from last year about this time. Ok, August 22. I made a list of babysitting statistics. Check it out. All I have to say this time is: I babysat 3 families in 4 days for 29 hours. And did VBS in the evenings. I don't remember too much of it, actually. haha. I was still pretty tired from RELAY. See guys, I got 5 hours of sleep because I knew I would be recovering from it for a week anyway, even though I didn't stay up all night! Read Fishy's or Gina's or Dory's Xanga if you want relay details.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Today Meghan's coming over!!!! For a whole week!!! Well, probably not a whole week, because we're going to be in Atlanta this time next week. haha. Yup that's right, we're doing a TN/GA trip this year for our family trip. It should be fun. Scratch that, it WILL be fun.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ok, books everyone needs to read.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The Anybodies/The Nobodies.
The Barbarian way.
There's a boy in the girl's bathroom. Sounds immature, I know, and it was written for kids who are younger than I am, but I still really liked it.
Small Steps. Decent book. you don't have to read this one. if you don't want to. The rest are all mandatory if you want to be my friend. Haha, just kidding. :O)
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm wearing a new outfit. Or did. To church this morning. And, I'm wearing a new outfit to YOUTH GROUP tonight. I'm adding more blue and green into my wardrobe. I love the thrift store. You'd think we spend thousands of dollars on clothes, if you look at how many new things we get, but when every item costs about 3 bucks.... and when your mother trash picks--I mean recycle bin picks--I mean recycle bin peeks-- for coupons...like I said, I love the thrift store.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And. I don't know what else to say. So the spontnnnneity wore off. Byez!

Hi, guess who...me again!!

I guess I don't really have to post if I have nothing to say...oh yeah, I ran around the neighborhood twice this morning--13 mins and 16 mins. Let's just say I was pretty tired the second time. I felt awesome the first time, I could've run really fast if my lungs had just cooperated. They weren't so awesome.

Youth group last night was spectacular, we did a scavenger hunt--mostly scavenging in Jason and Angie's house, but that worked out alright because we could return things. =0) Well, my team (and my half of my team) mostly looked for common things in their house. It was quite fun to just hang out, but yall were right, I do think too much!! Haha! I drove there and back; it was nice to have somewhere to go that wasn't just driving around aimlessly. It'll be a happy day when I can turn smoothly, though!

And today we went shopping for dad, but we all got something for us (of course!!) I got a pair of socks with monkeys and bananas that say "Go Bananas" on them. ILOVEUM. And I got foundation that I can actually use. =0)

I think I'll keep this shortish, one cuz I can't think of anything else to say and two because I still need to practice piano and send several e-mails--both of which I fully intend to do today!!

eh...alrighty then...send me an e-mail, leave me a comment, IM me, give me a call, y'know. =0) Y'all rock! Luv ya!

Oh, and comment on Hannah's xanga. You all forgot about her. Dudes. http://www.xanga.com/theultimatelove or http://doryack.blogspot.com Either is fine, they say the same thing. =-D But you have to have a xanga account to comment on xanga. *=0)